A tribute to and catalogue of the works of Alexander "Hugin" Wieser, founder of ambient black metal band Uruk Hai and many other side-projects, including Hrossharsgrani, Hrefnesholt, Elisabetha, B-Machina, Ceremony of Innocence and more!
Here you will find my thoughts on his work and details on the releases as drawn from items in my personal collection, forming a fuller catalogue of his work than is currently available elsewhere online

Monday, 12 August 2013

BLUTIGES VERMACHTNIS

Band: ELISABETHATitle: Blutiges Vermächtnis ("Bloody Legacy")

#1: From the Vaults of W.A.R.

You'd think that having run this Blog for the past 4 years and more, Nazgul would have a pretty good handle on Hugin's releases by now. After all, with some considerable effort Nazgul, has gathered together a substantial collection of all of Hugin's recorded output and housed it within the library of Castle Nazgul for posterity.

And yet ... Nazgul has seen frankly shocking things recently. Shocking in the sense of wonderous, awesome, unbelievable things. Shocking in the sense of hints of what might have been, of lost opportunities and distant plans left unfulfilled. If this was the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game my SAN would now be drained to zero and the padded cell would be a welcome release.

You see, dear reader, Hugin has thrown open the vaults of W.A.R. Productions for a brief glimpse into his past, and the results have shattered poor Nazgul's feeble mind. Like looking upon the face of Great Cthulhu himself, or striding into the open gates of Hell, nothing could have prepared Nazgul for what was to come spewing out of the primal ooze that festers beneath the legendary W.A.R. vaults. Think of those films that you've seen where the camera pans suddenly away from the close action - a hero battling an alien invader, perhaps - and focuses upon something in the near distance that forces you to appreciate the enormity of what is to come: a plague of aliens teeming from a spaceship or underground base in unfathomable numbers; an outpouring of such an immense scale that you go weak at the knees with the sheer magnitude of it all. Well that feeling, dear reader, is just a hint of how Nazgul felt after being assailed by the chill wind of history that emanated from the darkest depths of the ancient vaults of W.A.R.

Welcome to the first in an ongoing new series called - imaginatively enough - From the Vaults of W.A.R. - where some amazing relics of times gone by will be revealed for the first ever time for your enjoyment. Essentially, what you will find in this series is an array of artwork for proposed but never released releases, demos, split albums, 7" singles et al from virtually all of Hugin's projects: encompassing Uruk Hai, Elisabetha, Hrefnesholt, Hrossharsgrani, Bonemachine, Heimatleid ... and even the little matter of another previously unknown band that never saw the light of day!

Now, your Uncle Nazgul going to be nice and gentle with you and introduce you to each of these important historical items one at a time, for fear of otherwise sending you running off into the night gibbering and foaming at the mouth.

So let's take a brief look at today's debut offering: a never released Elisabetha tape demo called "Blutiges Vermächtnis" from circa 2003.No songs are listed on the inlay, though in truth they were planned to have been the same ones that eventually surfaced on the 13 track tape demo "Nosferat" of 2003. The inlay details that the songs were recorded and mixed in the W.A.R. Studio by Blutgraf and Hollenfurst between 2001-2003, and their portraits duly appear on the cover.EDIT [15/08/13] - in actual fact, Hugin has just found the original track listing for this proposed release, and it is as follows:Seite A:1) Des Abends rotes Seelenblut 1:202) Wurdulak 3:443) Das Blut meiner Ahnen 1:344) Todessehnsucht 6:455) Nachtherrschaft 1:336) Der Vampyr 8:307) Fleisch 1:228) Leb´ wohl lieb Land 17:299) Akasha 1:59

The cover picture is a little hard to make out - it looks most likely to be some form of ancient grimoire or book cover, but if it were in fact something else entirely then Nazgul wouldn't be entirely surprised!One must assume that the preference in W.A.R. was to release the demo through Smell The Stench, with the support of that esteemed underground label behind it. Whatever the reason, this artwork never made it onto a final commercially released tape and is therefore revealed for your entertainment for the first time on Honour and Darkness.And on that theme, you should see what other incredible goodies Nazgul has lined up for you over the months to come!A Bloody Legacy indeed....